I’m always down for spending another 80 Microsoft Points on dual-stick shooter if it does something interesting. And “Atom” does do something interesting.
Remember playing Qix, where you’d have those moments where you’d filled up so much of the screen that it was hard to navigate as you tried to grab those last few percent of the screen to finish the level? While this game is nothing like Qix, it does have a feature that reminds me of it. As you’re minding your own business, twin-stick shooting your way around the screen, periodically a beam will slice across the screen. Sometimes it will move quickly, sometimes it will move slowly, but the end result is much the same: you suddenly find yourself having to dodge and weave across a much smaller section of screen. When the dividing beam moves more slowly, you may find yourself in a position to choose which chunk of the screen you get stuck on. Oh, and did I mention your shots can’t cross this beam (and touching it means instant death for you), and that it sometimes moves around a bit?
A cool concept, with deliberately minimalist presentation that fits the theme, well worth 80 MSP.
Here’s what the developer (Impera Software) has to say about the game:
“the new atomic twin stick shooter for xbox!”
Writings of Mass Deduction 